Eme Alfonso

We travel to Cuba today with the first of four shows about the music scene in Havana as part of World Cafe's Sense of Place Havana.

Eme Alfonso is our guest. She hails from a renowned family of Cuban musicians. She's been nominated for for a Latin Grammy, as part of Sintesis, a jazz-fusion and Latin folklore act led by her parents, and toured the world extensively. Her solo debut Señales ("Signs") came out in 2008 and won the Cubadisco award for best Cuban fusion album. Her follow-up album came out in July. Eme blends R&B, Jazz and many different styless of Latin music. Eme Alfonso has performed at the Havana-Jazz Festival (Dec 2011, Havana), Havana-Film Festival (April 2012, NY), Sonorama-Ribera (Aug 2012, Madrid), and Afrika-Karibik Festival (Sep 2012, Frankfurt).

Listen to Eme perform songs from her new album, Eme, live from the the Bertolt Brecht Theater in Havana and discuss how jazz and soul, Cuban music from the 50s (cha cha cha and boleros), Brazilian music and Argentinean music, and more contemporary sounds (like Tears for Fears) have influenced her.